Twisted

Sunlight shot through my eyelids as I begun to pry them open. I tried to move but my limbs defied me. Where the hell was I? I heard the faint sound of waves, and as I curled my fingers I could have sworn I felt sand. I managed to force open my eyes and get a look around. I was on a beach. I struggled to stand but managed alright. I had somehow ended up at the ocean. I glanced behind me and noticed woods. Well, that was odd. The last thing I had remembered was walking into the woods. Could there really be a beach on campus? I heard rustling in the trees.

"Who's there?" I called, hoping for Scott to pop out. No answer. "I said, who's there?" I spoke a little louder, creeping towards the tree. An odd sort of bird popped out. It looked almost like a dodo bird, but those were extinct.

"Intruder!" It squawked and ran back into the woods.

"No, wait!" I called after it, following it into the thicket. The forest seemed thicker than it did before. The branches cut me as I ran through, I could see a clearing up ahead. Once I made it to the break in the trees, I sat down on a stump. What the hell was going on?

"There's the boy!" I heard a voice cry. I swiveled around to see, a large card? It was a playing card, a six of heart's to be exact. It had a head and arms and feet, but it's body was thin and bent in odd ways as it slinked towards me. Without thinking, I ran. I darted through the thicket until I tripped over a rock and fell. I could hear the frantic footsteps of the card people growing nearer. Just before one of the card men burst through the brush, the sound of hooves came from behind.

Everything happened in a flash. One moment there are card people, the next there is a girl with a bow shooting them down. I scrambled behind a tree, barely missing an arrow as it whizzed by. After several minutes, the noise stopped.

"You can come out now." The girl spoke. I peeked around the tree. She was sitting on her horse, a hooded cloak masking her. She hopped off the horse and lowered her hood. She looked human, but her skin was paper white and her hair was a luminescent red. I was still cowering on the ground when she approached, bow in hand and pointed straight at my head.

"H-hey, hey. Calm down, I'm one of the good guys," I stammered, "I think." I added quietly. She didn't lower her weapon. Instead, she pulled the arrow back farther and narrowed her eyes.

"Who are you?" Her voice was low and cold.

"R-Ridley. Ridley James." I put my hands up to surrender. She eyed me carefully then lowered the bow.

"Where are you from?" She still gripped the bow tightly in her hand. I had to admit, I was pretty terrified.

"I'm from Colorado. I'm a college student." I wasn't sure exactly what to say. Her face went from puzzled to scared to angry all in the matter of second. Suddenly, I noticed the bow had disappeared from her hand.

"What is Colorado? And college?" She seemed to blush a little as she spoke, almost as if she was embarrassed. How could she not know what college was. She looked older than myself, surely she had at least heard of it. Inspecting her old fashioned leather pants and corset, I began to wonder if I had stumbled upon a live action role-play area. That could be cool, I guess.

"Well, Colorado is a state. And college is, well, it's a place you go to learn stuff after high school." She glared at me with a puzzled look and offered me her hand. I took it and she pulled me to my feet.

"You are from beyond the barrier." She said quietly, walking back to her horse. She stood with her back turned to me for a second then placed a hat on her head and turned. There was something oddly familiar about that hat. Her hair had mostly fallen from the braids and stuck out wildly from under the hat, that's when it hit me.

"You're the Mad Hatter!" I yelled, immediately covering my mouth wishing I could draw back the words. She stormed towards me, gripping my throat she shoved me against a tree.

"How do you know my father?" She looked deeply into my eyes. Her father? I was beginning to think I wasn't in Colorado anymore. How could she be the daughter of a fictional character from a book over a hundred years old?

"It's a book." I choked. She loosened the grip on my neck. "It's a children's book. Alice in Wonderland. The Mad Hatter was just a character." Her eyes grew wide and she dropped her hand. She couldn't really think she was his daughter, could she?

"You're human." She whispered, never taking her eyes off me.

"Well, yeah?" I mumbled. What could she mean by that?

"How did you get here, boy?" She spat, glancing around the trees nervously.

"I-I don't know. I was in the woods, I saw a man..." I trailed off, the memories slowly coming back to me. "There was a man, at least I think it was, he was dressed in white and looked like a rabbit. I know that sounds crazy but-"

"You need to come with me." She said quietly. There was a rustling noise in the trees and quiet voices. "Cardians. We have to run." She pulled on my hand. She jumped onto her horse and held her hand out to me.

"I've never ridden a horse before." I mumbled, but it was too late. An arrow whizzed through the trees and buried itself in my shoulder. I fell to the ground letting out a scream. I watched the girl take off, leaving me on the ground, as the card men surrounded me.